Water sports in Maldives

All tourist facilities in the Maldives offer a wide variety of water sports. All resorts, safari boats and the dive schools in Male’ offer diving, excursion and snorkeling. Some have professional windsurf schools with qualified instructors offering multi-lingual certified courses, while others provide the basics needed for the windsurf enthusiast. Windsurf schools or water sports centers in the Maldives are often equipped with catamarans and kayaks or canoes. There are some centers offer only non-motorized water sports as a rule, to avoid disturbing the peace. However some others offer you the chance to test your skills, at water-skiing, jet skiing, parasailing, body surfing, knee boarding and fun with banana riding and dingo riding. Further, many provide romantic sunset sailing or adventurous excursions and island hopping, in catamarans or small ‘dhonis’. Use the facility search page to find a resort, safari or guesthouses that offer that activities you want.

Scuba Diving

The Maldives is famed for its rare underwater beauty. The profusion of psychedelic colors and the abundance and variety of life underwater have fascinated divers and snorkelers since Maldives was discovered as a diving destination. The highest level of visibility that one could expect- sometimes exceeding 50 meters - and warm temperatures throughout the year makes diving in the Maldives a delight you would want to experience over and over again. The Maldives has some of the best dive sites in the world and many visit the Maldives repeatedly for the sole purpose of diving. All resorts in the Maldives have professional dive schools with multi-lingual instructors and conduct courses for beginners as well as the advanced. Many of the resorts have excellent house reefs. Just a short swim from the beach and snorkelers too can experience the same pleasures from the surface.

If the islands of the Maldives are beautiful, what lies under the water is an absolute wonder of nature. The reefs that encircle the islands and the atolls are just as abundant in their variety of coral as the marine creatures that live in and around them. This, coupled with the amazingly clear water, make snorkeling and diving in the Maldives a unique experience that one should not give up. Diving in the Maldives is organized in the most exemplary of fashions. The diving centers are equipped to provide services for beginners and certified, experienced divers. The presence of clear waters all around the atoll means excellent visibility, especially with ingoing currents. Pelagic such as barracuda, trivially and tuna, and big schools of fusilier, snapper and sharks all congregate at the entrance to the channels, attracted by the movement of water and food sources carried with them. Depths inside the atoll are generally 40 to 50 meters and the bottom is mostly sand. There are many shallow water reefs inside the atoll and those just below the surface are clearly defined by sharp contrasts in the watercolor. Maldives is having more than One Hundred different dive-spots recorded with some world-renowned names. Underwater Photography "Given the manifold aspects of the underwater universe of the Maldives and the splendid colors of the fish and coral, it is almost a moral obligation to pause for a while with a camera before these wonders of nature" - says Kurt Amsler, world renowned photographic journalist who has dived the Maldivian waters extensively.

Dive Maldives It’s the underwater paradise the home of 1350 different species of coral and fish.

Parasailing

Most of the bigger resorts offer the excitement and fun of parasailing. Some offer instruction for beginners. Parasailing is ideal for those adventurous enough to try it. In addition to the excitement of being high up over the islands, it gives you a fantastic aerial view of your resort and the surroundings.

Water Skiing

Many resorts have their own speedboats and water skis for rent on an hourly or daily basis. Some even have instructors available to give you lessons. Prices vary from resort to resort.

Snorkeling

A trip to the Maldives will never be complete without donning a mask and a pair of fins and experiencing the beauty that sustains these tiny islands. Each island offers a beautiful house-reef that you could snorkel in everyday. Those resorts with far out reefs have boats that take snorkelers to the reef. Mask and fins can be rented from the dive schools if you need them.

Windsurfing

The large lagoons that surround most of the islands are ideal for windsurfing. Large lagoons with waist deep water for hundreds of meters with soft sandy bottoms and the protective barrier provided by the house reef, offer ideal, safe conditions for windsurfing, especially for beginners. Almost all resorts have windsurfing schools or water sports centers where you could get instructions and lessons and even get an international certificate. Some schools are equipped with a variety of boards and sails to suit different levels of windsurfers. All windsurf schools and water sports centers without exception, have the basic equipment for windsurfing, and in most cases one or more catamarans and a few canoes.